Lynne Segall is the Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. I recently had a chance to interview Lynne to discuss advertising, ratings, and the inner workings of Hollywood.
Q: Can you tell us about your background and what made you want to work in entertainment?
-professionally, I look at myself as someone working in media and publishing. And the media outlets I work for serve and cover the entertainment industry. I’ve been very fortunate in my career to work for top media brands that cover this industry.
Q: In what ways does your experience at The Hollywood Reporter, LA Times and other media outlets inform your decision-making process?
-my job is working with advertisers who need to deliver their ad messages to an audience either in print, online or at face to face events. They want to reach the “trade” for business messaging such as “For Your Consideration” advertising that impacts voting for awards season or other messages to communicate to the industry. On the consumer front our advertisers are looking to drive box office, drive ratings success with TV tune–in advertising or transact business by selling merchandise to the people who read THR’s suite of products. There are different sales approaches for B2B and B2C advertising. The “process” has to do with what a customer is looking to achieve.
Q: How has the advertising market changed over the past few years?
-The Hollywood Reporter advertising market has changed because the product (both in print and online) was completely reinvented two and half years ago. This transformation has allowed us to broaden our advertiser and reader base, while staying true to our core. Janice Min is our editorial director and has created a smart, relevant publication that readers and advertisers love. It’s a seamless combination of rigorous breaking news, insightful features, gorgeous design and straight-up fun; The Hollywood Reporter unlocks the inner workings of how entertainment gets made. It’s an insider’s view made accessible across multiple platforms including a weekly print magazine, online and on iPad.
The editorial environment is very seductive for the luxury market so you’re seeing more and more watch, jewelry, auto and other high-end companies advertise.
Q: Variety and Deadline are now part of the same company, how does this change the trade media landscape?
-I don’t know their strategy so I can’t say.
Q: Is The Hollywood Reporter headed completely online or will there always be a print version?
-this is a very smart industry and they still love to read a print product. And advertisers still gravitate to the editorial environment of a magazine to support their ad message.
For awards season, filmmakers and talent find that print images give an emotional connection to their project and that ads with 3rd-party critics’ quotes really bring their work to life.
Vogue magazine had a 1000-page issue last September, so fashion and luxury advertisers aren’t giving up print – trust me, the death of print is overblown. And THR is up in ad pages and revenue so it’s still a great business for us. E-commerce is also huge for fashion, where some brands do more in e-commerce than they do in their retail stores. All platforms have a purpose.
THR.com is now at almost 11mm uniques, so we continue to grow our consumer footprint worldwide. All platforms are important to us since they serve different reader habits and advertiser needs.
Q: What is the most exciting story on the horizon?
-one of the stories today is the abundance of fantastic new original content coming into the market from outlets like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Studios. Consumers have more choices for their viewing pleasure than ever before.